What do our two characters have in common but the simple fact that they are
loosing their minds. In the “Fall of the House of Usher” Poe tells the story of an
individual deeply plagued by a dieing sister and a long line of family mishaps. He is a
prisoner within his own mind, with no possibility of escape. As with “The Yellow
Wallpaper” Gilman tells of a woman deeply plagued by her own mind. She is drawn into
a reality of her own where she is the only one that can free herself. In being prisoners
these two main characters share a common theme and a sense of symbolism in the way
that they live and go about each day. The story lines though very different, each tell a
unique story of impressments and the deaths of ones own mind.
Imprisonment within ones self can be a terrible tragedy. Roderick in the “Fall of
the House of Usher” is a prisoner within his own mind. He is trapped in the house
because he feels as though that is the only place he belongs. In a dialog between the
narrator and Roderick we see the proof in this, “To an anomalous species of terror I
found him a bound slave. “I shall perish,” said he, “I must perish in this deplorable folly.
Thus, thus, and not otherwise, shall I be lost. I dread the events of the future, not in
themselves, but in their results. I shudder at the thought of any, even the most trivial,
incident, which may operate upon this intolerable agitation of soul”” (Poe 235). As with
the narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper”, we see that she is a prisoner within her mind as
well. A small dialog between the narrator and her husband John tells us of her belief in
this very thought, “John is so pleased to see me improve! He laughed a lit...
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...racter is vastly
different yet they both share the similar notion of imprisonment within themselves.
Roderick fights battles within his brain as to whether his actions were right, and will the
resurrection of his sister actually take place. Will she be a dead, but living ghost of who
she was? And would she come after him? Yes and yes as you could see, she did come
back and she did come after Roderick. As for the old woman, she was a steadfast woman
strong and sure of everything and it was the yellow wallpaper that finally drove her to her
insanity. Both start sane and end insane. Yet each has a completely different way of
going about it. Both Roderick and the old lady battle with their own demons inside their
heads by the end of their own stories. Each a different battle yet in the end, Insanity is but
a common factor.
Compare two characters – one from each work – who are similar in temperament or who seem to be in analogous situations.
He does not appear as he used to; mentally and physically. He then realizes that Roderick has a twin sister named Madeline who has fallen ill. Roderick confesses that this illness is hereditary in the Usher family and that there is no cure. As days pass, Roderick’s sanity is questionable; he hears voices, hallucinates, and buries his sister alive. Madeline then escapes from the tomb and collides with Roderick only to fall and both die.
Cohen’s first thesis states that a monster is born out of fear and is a cultural body. Just like Cohen explained, Roderick creates his own monster completely out of fear. His mental illness is where the fear is born and out of fear he created his own personal monster. This monster never seems to go away, even when it was sealed underground. Ultimately it is this monster, that takes the shape of his sister, that kills him.
The character Roderick Usher is extremely sick in the story. This change from human expectations of a healthy man is scary. Even a sick human is never described to be in as bad of a condition as Usher. Expectations are also broken with his sister, Madeline Usher. She shatters the expectation by going from dead to alive and being drastically different when she becomes undead. She is not how we think of a human when she comes back in both looks and attitude. She perfectly fits the description of a zombie, besides the eating flesh characteristic. One final and wonderful example of transformation scaring us in this story is the narrator’s sanity. As he is influenced by Roderick Usher, he slowly starts acting like his mentally ill friend. Not only does this change the narrator’s attitude, but the reader’s experience as well. This is because this is the only point of view a reader will get from this story. This is scary because the truth is hard to decipher. Is the narrator telling the truth, or has his madness wiped that aspect
To recapitulate, the reader is drawn into the story through anticipation and suspend. In the beginning the reader is told there is some great fear Roderick is to soon encounter. Quickly, curiosity invites the reader to discover what could be so terrible that would cause a person such great affliction. This story is a classic example of Poe’s writing. One could surmise the afflictions Poe’s experienced in his own life were reflected in the character Roderick.
In the short story, “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allen Poe, diction is extensively used to create an air of suspense. Poe’s use of diction along with symbolism contributes to establishing a mood of despair. By using symbolic comparison between the Ushers and their house, the story’s suspense builds and the characteristics of the Ushers are portrayed. Poe’s cunning tactics are evident in the way he achieves a story of both suspense and horror.
During the “The Fall House of Usher” I believe when “POE” first received the call to come visit his friend he was a little taken back because he had not spoken to him since grade school. So I believe at first he was reluctant to go. The narrator’s state of mind during this period would probably be confusion and disbelief, since he believed “Usher” was wealthy his vison of his home was wrong. The narrator described the house as a house of death. (702) the narrator has believed that Usher has spread illness throughout the house. Usher was not mental stable since he wish to preserve Lady Madeline body after death. He afterwards he wonder throughout the house aimlessly. (710)
By giving insight into Roderick Usher’s life, Poe reveals how individuals can make themselves believe they are mentally ill. From the start of story, it is revealed that the narrator has been requested by Usher to help him through his “acute bodily illness” (18). The narrator immediately leaves
The short story titled, “The Yellow Wallpaper” is given its name for no other reason than the disturbing yellow wallpaper that the narrator comes to hate so much; it also plays as a significant symbol in the story. The wallpaper itself can represent many various ideas and circumstances, and among them, the sense of feeling trapped, the impulse of creativity gone awry, and what was supposed to be a simple distraction transfigures into an unhealthy obsession. By examining the continuous references to the yellow wallpaper itself, one can begin to notice how their frequency develops the plot throughout the course of the story. As well as giving the reader an understanding as to why the wallpaper is a more adequate and appropriate symbol to represent the lady’s confinement and the deterioration of her mental and emotional health. In Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”, the color of the wallpaper symbolizes the internal and external conflicts of the narrator that reflect the expectations and treatment of the narrator, as well as represent the sense of being controlled in addition to the feeling of being trapped.
Edgar Allen Poe’s short story, “The Fall of the House of Usher”, sets a tone that is dark, gloomy, and threatening. His inclusion of highly descriptive words and various forms of figurative language enhance the story’s evil nature, giving the house and its inhabitants eerie and “supernatural” qualities. Poe’s effective use of personification, symbolism, foreshadowing, and doubling create a morbid tale leading to, and ultimately causing, the fall of (the house of) Usher.
The wallpaper, the narrator's obsession, destroyed the peace of mind for all parties concerned. The imagery, used in the short story "The Yellow Wallpaper", paints a vivid picture and the reader becomes a front row spectator to the mental deterioration of the narrator to utter insanity.
Although both protagonists in the stories go through a psychological disorder that turns their lives upside down, they find ways to feel content once again. In Charlotte Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper," a nervous wife, an overprotective husband, and a large, damp room covered in musty wallpaper all play important roles in driving the wife insane. Gilman's masterful use of not only the setting, both time and place, but also of first person point of view, allows the reader to process the woman's growing insanity. The narrator develops a very intimate relationship with the yellow wallpaper throughout the story, as it is her constant companion. Her initial reaction to it is a feeling of hatred; she dislikes the color and despises the pattern, but does not attribute anything peculiar to it. Two weeks into their stay she begins to project a sort of personality onto the paper, so she studies the pattern more closely, noticing for the first time “a strange, provoking, formless sort of figure that seems to skulk about behind that silly and conspicuous front design” (Gilman). At this point, her madness is vague, but becoming more defined, because although the figure that she sees behind the pattern has no solid shape, she dwells on it and
Horror reaches its peak in this passage as even the reader finds himself “divided” between two interpretations: Roderick is aware of what is happening either because he knowingly buried his sister (a logical explanation) or because he is united with her by an internal bond – a union more mysterious than that of simple twins. (Hermann and Kostis 41)
The Yellow Wallpaper is a very astonishing story written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman that daringly reaches out to explore the mental state of a woman whose mind eventually begins to be broken down to a state of insanity by the appearance of a creeping woman who is trapped behind a revolting yellow wallpaper. This short story takes a look at the causes of the narrator’s insanity by how she was confined in a house alone, trapped with only her mind and a dull wallpaper; while dealing with depression and consuming strong
The Fall Of The House of Usher is a terrifying tale of the demise of the Usher family, whose inevitable doom is mirrored in the diseased and evil aura of the house and grounds. Poe uses elements of the gothic tale to create an atmosphere of terror. The decaying house is a metaphor for Roderick Usher’s mind, as well as his family line. The dreary landscape also reflects his personality. Poe also uses play on words to engage the reader to make predictions, or provide information. Poe has also set the story up to be intentionally ambiguous so that the reader is continually suspended between the real and the fantastic.